4 unités LC - Architecture Insights

I.4 Facilities
The ‘Unité’ in Marseille provides a variety of commercial and
recreational facilities, in compliance with Le Corbusier’s ideas of
communal services. The main facilities are located on the
commercial mid-level and the roof terrace.
The Commercial Mid-level
When the building first opened, it contained a large co-operative
general store, a fish shop, a butcher, a bakery, a laundry, a post
office, a newsagent, a bookshop, a pharmacy, and various boutique
stores, all located at building’s mid-level. 36 Today, commercial
activity has been reduced significantly to only a small supermarket
operated by a large French company, and a privately owned bakery
adjacent.
The location of this commerce, in the very middle of the building,
invisible to the wider passing community, has restricted their
market solely to residents of the building. It was also found that it
provoked a feeling of isolation for the inhabitants, as the less
interaction required with the outside community, the more insular
one is made to feel. Despite the convenient location of the internal
shops for the residents, shopping outside of the building became
more preferable. For shopping may in part be a necessity, but for
many it is also a recreational and, especially in France, a social
activity.
But not only is the commercial ‘street’ isolated from a wider public,
it is also quite unpleasant – the internal ‘street’ is dark and
illuminated only by pallid fluorescent lights, providing an
environment that is most unappealing as a social space.
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60. Outside the supermarket
today (a space kept in good
condition, but rarely frequently
by the inhabitants).
And yet today, despite all this, the level is still in operation, even it
is not the bustling commercial street Le Corbusier had thought it
would be. The residents, particularly the more elderly ones, do
actually appreciate its convenience on the odd occasion. And,
besides, the novelty of a supermarket in the very middle of ones
apartment building has simply become one of the characteristic
features of this ‘Unité’ that established its fame.